Travis Head and Steve Smith bury England under their pile of tons in sunny SCG

Travis Head smashed 163 and skipper Steve Smith cruised to 129 not out as Australia built their lead to 134 by stumps with three wickets in hand against England in the fifth and final Test at the SCG on Tuesday.

By the time, Head left the SCG field to a thunderous ovation he was done with his latest demolition of England in this Ashes series. But the roars soon deafened when Usman Khawaja walked to the crease in his final Test match. But Khawaja, batting at No.6, could not produce any fairytale innings.  In what might prove to be his final Test innings, Khawaja fell for 17 in an ungainly dismissal, a low full toss from Brydon Carse, and left the ground to more hearty applause.

Head’s belligerent 163 off 166 balls was his third century in what has been a remarkable series for the left-handed batter. After the Head show, it was left to Smith to hog the limelight in the remainder of the day as he finished day three with an unbeaten 129 off 205 balls to put Australia in a commanding position as they seek a convincing 4-1 series victory.

Australia appear to have broken England’s spirit in an innings stretching 124 overs. Their first-innings lead has surged to 134 runs and looks particularly significant with uneven bounce becoming notable and cracks set to widen amid warm weather in Sydney.

Steve Smith moved into second all-time on the Ashes run scorers and century list with only Sir Donald Bradman ahead on both fronts

The Australian skipper wasn’t at his fluent best but looked locked in from the get-go with his usual theatrics at the crease on full display. He even at one point asked Carse at mid-off to put his sunglasses on the back of his hat due to the reflection.

Smith feasted on the wayward England bowling and also made a point to be aggressive against spinners Will Jacks and Jacob Bethell. A 37th Test century and 13th against England almost felt inevitable as he ended a relatively lean series in style, kissing his helmet in celebration late in the day.

Smith moved into second all-time on the Ashes run scorers and century list with only Sir Donald Bradman ahead on both fronts.

His first home Ashes hundred since the 2017-18 series has tightened Australia’s grip on the match. They were aided by shabby bowling and fielding from England, who dropped four catches in the first session with Smith being reprieved on 12 by Zak Crawley at leg-slip just before lunch.

The early part of the day was dominated by Head, who had only just fallen short of scoring a century in an elongated final session on day two, but it didn’t take him long to reach his 12th Test ton. After resuming on 91, Head completed his 105-ball century just 25 minutes into the day’s play. The knock ended Head’s modest record at the SCG as he became the fifth player to score tons at seven different venues in Australia.

Head looked good for maiden double ton

Head received strong support from nightwatcher Michael Neser. The all-rounder showed off his batting credentials, having made 4000 career runs in first-class cricket with five centuries. He frustrated England with solid defence and the occasional boundary to grind down the beleaguered tourists.

Head continued his rampant form from the previous afternoon when he inflicted more pain on hapless seamer Matthew Potts, whose Ashes debut has turned into a nightmare.

Capping a forgettable morning for England, Smith was dropped at leg-slip by Crawley in a sharp chance down to his left to deny Josh Tongue another wicket against the Australia captain. Jacks’ woes continued when he could not hang on to a bullet from Head that was rifled back to him in the final over before lunch.

Head eyed a maiden double century but his hoodoo of getting out between 150-175 continued shortly after the interval when he missed a premeditated sweep and fell lbw to Bethell with his review proving unsuccessful.

Khawaja and Smith played watchfully, with Ben Stokes pushing his battered body in a lionhearted spell with the old ball. Khawaja made just 10 off his first 40 deliveries before briefly winding back the clock with a gorgeous drive down the ground off Potts. England once again appeared to be unravelling with Carse curiously bowling over the wicket despite Khawaja’s last 12 dismissals to right-arm pace being from around the wicket.

But Khawaja missed a full toss from Carse and then unwisely decided to review with ball-tracking confirming it was smashing the bottom of the middle stump. The crowd again rose, but there was no big wave of the bat for Khawaja and time will tell if he bats again in his Test career.

Brief scores: England 384 vs Australia 518/7 (Travis Head 163, Steve Smith 129 batting; Brydon Carse 3/108, Ben Stokes 2/87).